Richard Hawley

Have you ever been there whilst on your travels?

Or has anyone else been, what's it like is it worth it?

Thinking about going next year, then popping up to Indiana to the James Dean museum.

James Dean, eh? You a fan then, Gary?






Snigger

Graceland is suitably tacky - it won't disappoint, but it's more inclined to cheeseburger Elvis than the lean mean young man of the early years. First of all, you have to park opposite, and then they take you on a bus across the road - you're not allowed to walk - there's a short introductory talk on the steps and then you're off on your own. When I was there they let you take photos inside, but without flash. The house is a lot smaller than you'd think...upstairs is out of bounds. There are rooms with costumes and if you pay extra, you can go in a couple of other places - Elvis' transport museum etc and see all his cars and aeroplane, the Lisa Marie. The souvenir shop is pretty good. Take a thick marker pen and make sure you graffiti on the wall like everyone else.


In Memphis, I preferred the Sun Studios tour - the guides (at least when I was there) are real tattooed rockabilly types who know their stuff. You can get to kiss Elvis' mic too, should you be so inclined.
Some pics -






More in my Flickr photostream

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http://www.nickbarberphotography.co.uk

Graceland by Paul Simon....Mmmm...didn't he get some stick for this album?
Songwriters introducing a hint of politics is great...politicians reacting not so great, politicians pretending to understand songwriters even worse.
Gracelands is a fantastic album production wise. love the reverse bass on one of the tracks
Looking forward to the Holmfirth gig.

"Tacky", "cheeseburger Elvis"?

You don`t know what your talking about mate.

that's what i was wary of.



hi joe

Sorry I'm confused too ! I wa talkin abart Graceland the album
Wonder what Rich makes a' Godley an Creme's music ?

I'm quite liking that chandelier .... tacky in the right place can just about work ... but Sun Studios ... I'm remembering that great film "Mystery Train" with the Elvis ghost and the hip Japanese kids doing the tour. I'm so going to have to get the DVD.

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The way your face could light the bitter dark of every street
In every town I'll ever go

I was in Memphis about 4 years ago - I met Scotty Moore and James Burton. Did Sun Studios + Stax - that was quite special, because the music made there means so much. Beale Street + BB King's club was a little too tourist-y for my liking but still ok.
It's worth bobbing up to Nashville too - The Ryman Auditorium still puts on gigs. The country music museum is pretty good and it's worth checking out the RCA studio B tour - it's where all the 'heavies' recorded from 1958 until the early '70's and all the instruments have been left in their places.

Gracelands I found a little sad because it represented Elvis after he went all Vegas and tacky (IMO). If you're there, I think you should go, but I didn't get too excited by it although standing in front of his grave was a little wierd....

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Twang is, as Twang does.

http://www.myspace.com/stevebillybuckley

http://www.myspace.com/thewagontrain

That's "you're" . The apostrophe stands for the missing letter "a".

I'm curious as to why I don't know what I'm talking about....please elucidate.

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http://www.nickbarberphotography.co.uk

I get the "tacky", I get the "cheeseburger Elvis" ... and I get the apostrophe ... I most definitely get the apostrophe ... ... but thankfully there's an absence of exclamation marks, giant font and general screeching ... so that means we're all going to be nice? please?

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The way your face could light the bitter dark of every street
In every town I'll ever go

Ive been didn't think it was tacky at all -well not inside the house(across the roads a diff matter)-It is really small mind no big hallway your straight in dining room left livin room right-his collection of gold records is an amazing sight.By all accounts its not exactly how Elvis left it-his lovely er ex wife made changes before opening to the public-and upstairs remains closed ,well so far..i dread the day when theres the bathroom tour.Theres also a museum across the road and his two private planes -which you can board-a king size bed complete with safety belt! The wall surrounding Graceland is very small you could pretty much step over itand its covered in names of fans who have visited over the years.

I also take issue with the "tacky" bit - yes some rooms were redone after Elvis' death - but what you are looking at is a retro home - don't forget Elvis died in '77 and Graceland was opened up in '82 - don't look at it with modern eyes - it is of its time and should be taken as such!

I know all the trophy rooms have been added since, but as they're not strictly part of the "living space" that existed in Elvis' time I discount those in my comment above!

But I will stress as others have done, this is my humble opinion only.

It's better than my hoose-it has doors for a start

i would go to union avenue,stax and lanskys then high tail it out of there[/u]

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now,then!